OUR VIEW: A lot riding on pick of the next pope

Thursday

Mar 7, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 7, 2013 at 7:23 AM

The world’s Catholic cardinals have gathered in conclave in Rome to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who sent shock waves around the world by retiring. Good luck to them. They have as formidable a task as perhaps they ever have. Many are praying that it be a divinely inspired one, others will be satisfied if it is merely well-informed.

The world’s Catholic cardinals have gathered in conclave in Rome to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who sent shock waves around the world by retiring. Good luck to them. They have as formidable a task as perhaps they ever have. Many are praying that it be a divinely inspired one, others will be satisfied if it is merely well-informed.

Far be it for us to try to tell a 2,000-year-old institution headquartered in Rome what to do, but may one humbly suggest that the Catholic Church would be well served if excising the cancer that has afflicted it for many decades now — coming to the public’s attention mostly in the last one — is a top priority of the next pope?

Indeed, there is an element of “doctor, heal thyself” here regarding the child sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the church that uniquely traces its roots to Jesus’ apostles, built by St. Peter. Yet one senses that there are some within its ranks who still have not come to grips with just how much the moral authority of the church has been diminished in the minds of many, and how it continues to color what church leaders preach and profess to believe.

Indeed, self-inflicted wounds and doubts continue with recent revelations of sexual indiscretion among a supposedly celibate clergy, notably with the recent resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland following allegations of unwanted sexual advances made toward other priests. He will not take part in picking a new pontiff. Another controversial figure who will, however, is Cardinal Roger Mahony, former archbishop of Los Angeles, who was recently and rightly rebuked by his successor following the release of internal documents seeming to show evidence of conscious cover-ups of child abuse by priests in his charge — to the point of criminal obstruction of justice, if the reports are to be believed. Yet almost inconceivably, he has spent these last few weeks attempting to portray himself as a victim. He will forgive those who have concluded that among the real victims here, he is decidedly not among them.

Meanwhile, questions have been raised as well in the European press about the shadowed practices of the Vatican Bank. Pope Benedict himself commissioned an investigation into corruption within the Vatican heirarchy, which is complete, and which one papal contender, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi of Italy, has said reveals the “divisions, dissent, careerism, jealousies” and worse within the bureaucracy. And so it is troubling to read that its contents may not be shared with the 117 eligible cardinal electors. If all that is so, why not? How can the choice be fully and fairly informed if it is not?

Ultimately, it is unrealistic for Catholics and non-Catholics alike to expect the church’s next leader to compromise on the institution’s core principles. But no faith institution, Catholic or otherwise, can afford to have some of those principles appear to be in conflict with universally accepted standards of right and wrong. Canon law and civil law co-exist in the real world. In too many cases regarding some of our most vulnerable, the children whose care and security had been entrusted to church leaders — reportedly involving some 700 priests and the bishops who oversaw them in the United States alone — the human priorities on display were all too fallible.

And so the cardinals gather to elect a leader they and countless of their followers believe to be infallible. No one should underestimate how tough it is to live up to that label.

Arguably it will very much help if the next pope is not only unstained by previous scandal but an excellent judge of character regarding those with whom he surrounds himself. The job requires uncommon managerial skills as the leader of one of the world’s largest, most widely spread, richest organizations. May he be an effective, likeable, seemingly accessible spokesman for his faith, firm in his convictions but also pastoral, and plugged into the modern world — particularly regarding the rapid-fire communications that challenge us all — in a way that has sometimes eluded his predecessors. That cause may be assisted if he is younger than the average 72 years of the cardinal electors. May he be secure enough to share the Vatican with another living pope, unprecedented in all of our lifetimes. May he appreciate that when he speaks, more than just the globe’s 1.2 billion Catholics may be listening. May he exercise superior instincts in picking his battles.

It will not be easy finding all of those qualities in one person.

This is a pivotal point in the church’s history. Some have tuned it out. Some of those who remain in the pews and continue to give their church the benefit of the doubt may be at a tipping point. Suffice it to say, there is a lot riding on this choice, which is expected before Palm Sunday, March 24.

In any case, the planet suffers not from too many credible, moral voices. The Catholic Church has had its tragic missteps, but it also has been a force for good in the world in many ways. May it continue to be.